Trouble ahead with hay supplies?

I was chatting today with one of the workers at Manor Farm in Ockedon (were many of us Essex people get our bales) and having a bit of a moan about one of the bales I previously bought as it was dusty and fungal (never happened before with them - hay usually excellent). He admitted that the hay their suppliers had left was maybe not the best but then commented that there was a real problem ahead with hay. As the harvest last year was so bad because of all the rain he expects that hay will be in increasingly short supply and he thouoght people might have to make their own from their gardens before the new harvest was in! Anyone else aware of this?

I have been getting hay from a horsey place for months but last month I went to get some and it was very brown and dry so I didn't bother.

Tried the farm up the road and they let us bag up our own! We picked out all the nice green bits and were charged 50p for the bag

I think it still varies from place to place but I hope there isn't a long term problem with supplies.

Yes - some local suppliers that we know of are struggling. We got ours from a local farm last time but they made it very clear they didn't want lots of custom.... we could probably get another bale from them in a couple of months but they obviously didn't have a lot of surplus. Another farm we tried don't have a lot to sell either.

The bad winter means that more hay will have been used to feed stock as no grass was available for a long period of time with all the snow. On top of the bad summer last year I do think there will be problems. I'm expecting to have to pay out a lot more for decent quality hay later in the year.

The litter tray hay (£2 a bag from the local pet shop - think it's meadow hay) was extremely foisty, dusty and fungal about a month ago :? but I bought a bag a couple of days ago and it was fine again so maybe just a bit of a blip in the harvest or storage? I feed them mainly American Timothy hay anyway so hopefully not as much to worry about - although the price that costs me per box I think I'll be demanding refudns if I get a foisty box :shock:

My saddlery tells me that supplies are dangerously short due to poor weather over winter meaning everyone used it all up feeding animals.

I've had two different bales from different farms and both were not that good. The bunnies weren't as interested as they usually are.

We seem to still be getting good hay, not that I entirely know what I'm looking for in hay to be honest. The rabbits go crazy for it anyway.



They can't wait for me to get it out the bag, they're digging in.

We get ours from Frogpool Manor, horse feed and supplies place in Sidcup. Anyone else go there?